


Pleasures in remembering.

by TayBartlett9000



Category: British Royalty RPF, The Crown (TV)
Genre: Gen, Love, Marriage, Memories, Queen - Freeform, Royalty, prince - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 19:02:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21081557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TayBartlett9000/pseuds/TayBartlett9000
Summary: Queen Elizabeth looks back  on her marriage with Philip and ponders some of  the most important moments, both good and bad.





	Pleasures in remembering.

I remember nearly every detail of our long marriage and life together, and most of these are treasured memories that I am glad to have shared with the man of my dreams. Even now as I approach my ninety third birthday, I still look at Philip in the same way as I did when I fell in love with him at the age of thirteen. I have been in love with Philip for nearly a century and I have never seaced in my love for him. Philip has tried my patience on many an occasion, just as every husband will at some point during his marriage, but even though ours is a marriage unique among couples in the world, I feel that we have made a good job of it.

To me, my Philip has always been the dashing naval hero that I fell in love with at the naval college while on a visit there with my father and mother in 1939. We had met before of course, Philip being a distant cousin of mine. I had never before 1939 seen him as anything more than a member of the same royal family, but for some reason during that visit, I began to see in Philip something magical. He had been eighteen years of age, a man, and to me, he had looked every inch the true prince charming. 

I think that every woman remembers the way she felt as a young girl falling in love for the first time. I certainly do. Craufie, my nanny, told me years later that during that visit to the royal naval college, I didn’t take my eyes off Philip all the while. I can imagine that to be true. The dazzling prince of Greece and Denmark had indeed caught my eye and I was most unwilling to look away from him. He was making me laugh like a silly fool as he capered about on the tennis court, and no doubt he was aware of my interested amusement at his antics.

Philip told me later that he had enjoyed my family’s visit to the naval college in 1939 and that he had taken much pleasure in boarding our royal yot to visit with us in person. But he also told me that his feelings didn’t start to change until later. I had been head over heals in love with Philip long before he had fallen in love with me. I used to get slightly upset by that, because as I have often told him, the only man who I have ever loved is Philip, but I know that his love should be enough for me.

My father didn’t wish me to marry Philip at first. I think that he would have rather seen me marry just about anyone but the man I eventually married, but I knew that I would never be with anyone but my distant cousin Philip. I was determined to have my way and I faught for my right to marry whom I wished to. After what felt like a lifetime fighting for the relationship with the man I loved, my father finally agreed to allow Philip and myself to marry. For a while, our engagement was kept a secret from my father’s subjects. We became officially engaged just a few months following my twenty first birthday and in announcing this engagement, I was rapturously happy. I had managed to successfully form what I was sure would be an ever lasting relationship with my one and only and in 1947, I believed that Philip and I would be married for a long time before I would be required to take the throne.

But alas, that was not to be. For a few years following our marriage in November of 1947, I remained Princess Elizabeth and Philip’s dutiful and loving wife. We travelled the world, partaking in royal duties as the happy young couple. We soon had a son and until 1952, Philip, my son Charles and myself were happy.

Then my father died. It was a sudden death full of grief and suffering. My family lived under a black cloud of unhappiness for some time but losing myself in grief as I wished to was never an option for me. On the day my father died, I succeded him as ruling monarch of Great Britain and her empires. It fell to me to take up the task of governing Britain and the commonwealth as queen and that was probably the most difficult part of my marriage with my dearest Philip.

For a while, I struggled to balance my role as queen and Philip’s sovereign with my role as his loyal wife. It was difficult for a long time as I was often kept busy with the duties and tasks that the QUEEN of Britain had to undertake. The often hectic schedule of my life as queen meant that my marriage with Philip often had to be placed on the back burner so to speak. I believe that he resented my role as queen. He was and still is an old fashioned sort of gentleman. He believed that as his wife, I was duty bound to obey his wishes. I wanted to fulfil my role as Philip’s dutiful wife but often my role as queen clashed with such wishes.

I did however manage to grant some of Philip’s wishes, such as his desire to learn how to fly. He rather enjoyed that as he had ofte told me of his wish to learn to fly, and I had been happy to do that small thing for him. I enjoyed the idea of my handsome hero flying high, even though his flying was restricted somewhat by the government. At least he was able to fly. Any opportunity for flight was better than nothing.

Though I try to consider Philip’s ideas and thoughts in all matters and perceive him to be a man of great intellect and integrity, the only thing I ever truly questioned Philip over was the treatement of our oldest son and heir Charles. I do not think that Philip thought very much of our son while he had been a young boy. I had heard him comment on many an occasion that Anne was more like his son and that Charles was more like his daughter. In response to this, Philip sent Charles to a school that he hoped would toughen him up a bit.

I wasn’t at all sure about sending my oldest son to a place as brutal as the school that Philip sent him to and the letters written to me by Charles only served to make that worse. But in this, Philip was resolute. There was no arguing with him. Charles was going to go to the school that Philip chose for him and there was nothing I could do to prevent it. That was the only time that I had wished that I had been able to make the decisions about my childrens’ education as their mother and their sovereign. I had not been able to do this of course. 

It is still difficult balancing life as a queen and life as a happily married woman. I believe now though that Philip and I have a strong and committed relationship that has grown so much since we got married over seventy years ago. We have pulled each other through many a hardship and although the early phase of my life as queen was difficult, I am glad to say that we have managed to overcome it. Philip has always been my rock and for that, I have always been very grateful. Philip and I always knew that our relationship was and still is a unique one and that we were never able to get a devorse as other couples could. Because of this, my husband and I knew that working through any problem we had would be the key to a successful marriage. It must have worked and it must still be working still because I cannot imagine a life without my husband. I love Philip with all of my heart and even though I still wear the crown and have the responsibility of ruling over my kingdom and my people, I know that my husband supports me. I know that Philip loves me too and I am glad to have shared over seventy years of marriage with him. Now Philip and I have grand children and great grand children. Our family is thriving and although Philip has decided to undertake less royal duties than he had done previously, I know that for all our difficulties in the past, he is glad to be a part of our family. Who wouldn’t be? Our family is a good one to be a part of. Philip and I were always sure that it remained and will remain so after all.


End file.
